Cognitive mechanisms underlying the emotional effects of bias modification
Abstract
In this study we assessed the cognitive mechanisms underlying the affective consequences of modifying emotional processing biases. During ‘active’ training participants selected either threatening or non‐threatening meanings of emotionally ambiguous words, in contrast to ‘passive’ conditions in which participants read unambiguous words with equivalent valenced meanings. Both methods enhanced access to training‐congruent primed emotional meanings, as assessed in a lexical decision task, although neither method displayed evidence of an induced interpretive bias as it is usually understood. However, consistent with previous research, the methods differed in their emotional consequences: Active training had greater effects on anxiety while viewing an accident video than did passive exposure. We interpret these results to suggest that both forms of training enhance priming of a valenced category, but only active conditions induce an implicit production rule to generate and/or select emotional meanings, and that it is this latter process that is critical to the modification of emotionality. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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The suggested mechanism of action underlying CBM-pa is the implicit learning of a benign production rule driving interpretation.
“Furthermore, the suggested mechanism of action underlying CBM-pa is the implicit learning of a benign production rule driving interpretation [31].”
From A qualitative study of the acceptability of cognitive bias modification for paranoia (CBM-pa) in patients with psychosis (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
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- Authors
- Hoppitt, L., Mathews, A., Yiend, J., & Mackintosh, B.
- Affiliations
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Hoppitt, Laura
- Venue
- Applied Cognitive Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-03-18
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 312-325
- ISSN
- 0888-4080 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-0720
- OpenAlex
- W2047738821
- Cited by
- 64
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 9.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Applied Cognitive Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- Open Access at Essex (University of Essex) (submittedVersion)
- UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- interpretation bias, active training, passive exposure, affective priming, lexical decision, anxiety, emotional words
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